V E Bannisdale

Jane Badger Books

V E Bannisdale

Vane Erskine Bannisdale was the pseudonym of Vane Erskine Portal. She (he?) wrote two pony books, both of which were illustrated by Lionel Edwards.

Finding the books: both titles can be expensive because they were illustrated by Lionel Edwards, but reasonably priced copies do still come on to the market.

Back to the Hills

Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1940, illus Lionel Edwards

A collection of stories, this is about the same characters as Back to the Hills. “One of the stories relates a
true incident of the hard winter of 1939-40, and all show the high spirits, true understanding of horsemanship
and witty insight into characters which mark the earlier book.”

For reasons of copyright, I do not show illustrations by Lionel Edwards.

Riders of the Hills

Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1939, illus Lionel Edwards

“Riders of the Hills deals with the adventures of a group of children who belong to a West of England pony club.
There are all sorts of children, a couple of boys in the dreamy adolescent stage: the poor little rich girl who has
to eat her lunch in the car with a plate and a fork, instead of on the grass out of a paper bag: the hard-riding Irish
family trying to make both ends meet, the farmer's son who likes to put on airs : and there are all sorts of
adventures - riding in shows, running away to London to go on the stage, circumventing unpopular neighbours,
and all the usual (and some unusual) adventures of country life.

Bibliography - pony books only